The Yemeni defense ministry confirmed on Sunday that the Saudi-led coalition’s massive offensive to take control of Bab al-Mandab strait in Western Yemen was repelled.

Speaking in an interview with al-Mayadeen news channel, an informed source dismissed occupation of Bab al-Mandab strait by the Saudi-led coalition and militants loyal to the fugitive president Mansour Hadi.

“Clashes still continue in Bab al-Mandab and the army and popular committees have forced Hadi-affiliated and coalition forces to withdraw,” he added.

The source said that the Yemeni forces have managed to repel the attacks launched by the Saudi-backed militia from Lahij Province’s al-Sabiha district against Bab al-Mandab, adding that tens of Saudi forces were killed during the counteroffensives.

The Saudi-led coalition forces sustained heavy casualties in fierce battle with the Yemeni army and Ansarullah forces in an area near Bab al-Mandab strait on Friday and retreated from the region.

The Saudi-led forces launched an offensive on Ansarullah positions near the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait first on Friday but were repelled after sustaining heavy casualties in the Yemeni forces’ counteroffensive.

The latest reports said the Saudi-led coalition forces had been pounding Ansarullah and Yemeni army positions in the region with massive missile and air strikes ever since the retreat.

The Yemeni and Ansarullah forces also shot down a Saudi helicopter and drone in the Western parts of the country.

Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen for 193 days now to restore power to Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi-led aggression has so far killed at least 6,440 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children.

Hadi stepped down in January and refused to reconsider the decision despite calls by Ansarullah revolutionaries of the Houthi movement.

Despite Riyadh’s claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi warplanes are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.